1938: THE MONKEY HOUSE AT CADWALADER PARK
I remember the monkey house. I also recall that it was a very pleasant visit as long as you breathed through your mouth. The stench was quite unpleasant. I also recall the "bear pit." I felt so sorry for that bear whose home was a big hole in the ground with bars on top so visitors could see him. To me that was animal cruelty. Today the "Mansion," better known as Ellerslie is an incredibly beautiful museum; the bear pit and the monkey bars long gone.
THIS FROM OMAD:
A friend and I attended a luncheon event at the museum a couple of years ago with the food provided by the Culinary group from the state prison. Food was excellent. The docent told us that on some very hot days the old "aroma" from the monkeys still comes up through the floorboards.
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A friend and I attended a luncheon event at the museum a couple of years ago with the food provided by the Culinary group from the state prison. Food was excellent. The docent told us that on some very hot days the old "aroma" from the monkeys still comes up through the floorboards.
As an animal lover and State Animal Control officer, I am so disgusted with the conditions of the animal facilities that existed during the 1940's, 1950's and even in the 1960's. I frequently visited the park, primarily the monkey house and that horrible bear pit a lot growing up. I felt compelled, even as a young child, to make every attempt to feed those animals healthy food and not garbage. The place stunk so bad, because it was never properly cleaned, the animals were never properly fed and I honestly doubt that unless they were at death's door, they were ever seen by a Vet. The older I got, the more I realized how horrible the conditions were that those poor animals were forced to endure. I remember taking my children to the park one morning to see the deer, but someone had shot them. Yes, they had been cruely shot and left to die. I also recall a monkey reaching for food, when someone jumped the small fence and slit the money's arm open with a kife. Shelters don't reak of filth, unless there is good reason and you cannot clean with just water and expect the stench to go away. Didn't anyone in authority see how those animals existed? I'm so ashamed of myself now for not making an issue of this a long time ago. It was a wonderful place to go and enjoy quality family time, but looking back, those poor animals were subjected to neglect and cruelty. Under today's laws, it would never be permitted. I can't help but wonder what happened to all the animals kept at the park. This is a great blog, but facts still remain facts.
I loved the monkeys. I so wanted to take the monkeys home with me. I wasn’t aware as a small child how bad their conditions were other than the horrible odor (which I can still smell in my mind). So sad.
I lived in Trenton until I was 15. We left in 1973. Even as a young child 7-8 I thought the bear pit was horrific. I think it was there until around 1971.
And Ellarsie Mansion as a monkey house was also bizarre. They had a carriage in the middle of the main hall which I think Abaraham Lincoln had ridden in. It was within sight of the cages. There was one monkey (he may have been a baboon) named Marvin that was infamous. He killed, by strangling, the monkeys adjacent to his cage on both sides. They made the mistake of leaning against the jail bars that separated his cage from theirs, so he just reached around and strangled them. after that Marvin remained alone in his center cage with no next door cellmates. We used to throw him Bazooka Bubble Gum, and he would catch it and calmly unwrap it and chew it as long as a person would. He also had two escapes...one by blowing past his attendant when the attendant opened the back hatch to slide in his food. And the other by getting on his cage door and slamming it back and forth forcefully and loudly. He did it frequently and it was fun to watch. Anyway, one night in doing so the hinges blew off the door and out he went. When they caught him after that escape, the next time I saw him, his cage door had four or five large hinges welded to it. That was his last escape. For both escapes I think the Trentonian or Times had pictures of him on telephone poles while on the run. I googled it but couldn't find the articles.
Lastly, my brother wrote a short story about Marvin and sent it to Kurt Vonnegut. And Vonnegut actually responded in a hand written letter. Excerpting from that he wrote..."Dear Mr O, I have read your perfectly marvelous letter about Marvin. It was a generous gift to me...It's really just utterly pitiful about animals in zoos. Oh my."
I lived in Ewing until 1974. I went to visit Marvin the chimp all the time. He was so sad locked in that horrible cage. And that poor bear, he just paced. Today as an animal lover and rescuer, thank God that inhumane treatment will not happen again.
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